The logs are good reference volumes. Kitto, an avid spearfisherman, said the size of fish he has caught has tended to grow bigger with time.

"When you go back to the book," he said, "it brings you back to reality]."

Kitto's notes reflect the good times and the bad.

In July 1994, he was diving off Miami with his fiance Laura Azrikan when she disappeared after escorting a dive buddy back to the surface. She was found floating face-down in the ocean about a half-mile from the dive boat. Her death was ruled a drowning.

In the space where Kitto lists his dive buddies, he wrote the letters "RIP" under Laura's name.

In the space where he usually pens his comments, Kitto wrote nothing -- but pasted Laura's death notice in the book instead.

"It was just something I had to do," he said. "It was tough. I wanted to record it. I was right there when it happened. I gave her CPR all the way in to shore]."

Kitto's logs are often a topic of conversation on commercial dive boats.

"Sometimes the skippers that know me ask me to bring it out," he said. "They like to see what I've done lately."

Diana Lee Jareo, Kitto's dive buddy, recalls the first time she saw his log. "I said, `Wow, this guy is big time into it.' "

Kitto's last dive was Dec. 6 off Pompano Beach. To date, he has spent 960 hours and 41 minutes under water -- the equivalent of 40 days.

Kitto, a London native, was trained in 1960 by the British Sub Aqua Club, a certifying agency. He did not log the first 12 dives he made. Then he met a pilot who kept detailed logs of all his flights and dives.

Kitto thought that was neat and soon began keeping logs himself. He never stopped.

Now, his 8-by-11-inch volumes almost fill a bookcase shelf in his spare bedroom.

His reason for keeping detailed logs is simple:

"I like to keep data," he said. "I just like the idea of keeping track of everything. It's habit now."

Keeping voluminous notes over such a long period hasn't been without its trying moments.

"Every time you come back, you've got to fill it out," Kitto said.

The real challenge comes on dive travel trips, when he sometimes makes three dives per day over four days. After each dive, or after getting back to his hotel, he dutifully fills out his log.

"This is the big test," he said. "You've got to fill that book out. Otherwise dives start running into each other."